Search results for " Fluidity"

Acute Ischemic Stroke

2000

Background and Purpose —Several reports have considered the role of systemic leukocytes in acute ischemic stroke (AIS). Initially, greater attention was focused on the leukocyte count and subsequently on their adhesiveness, aggregation, rheology, and activation. The aim of this study was the evaluation of certain polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) parameters, reflecting their rheology and activation, in subjects with AIS. Methods —In a group of 19 subjects with AIS and in a control group of 18 subjects with asymptomatic vascular atherosclerotic disease, we evaluated the PMN membrane fluidity and cytosolic Ca 2+ concentration at baseline and after in vitro chemotactic activation with 4-phorb…

Chronic renal failure: leukocyte rheology and polymorphonuclear cytosolic Ca2+ concentration.

2000

In a group of subjects with chronic renal failure (CRF), we evaluated the leukocyte rheological activity, expressed as the filtration rate, the polymorphonuclear (PMN) membrane fluidity and the PMN cytosolic Ca2+ content. Using the St. George's Filtrometer, we determined the filtration rate of unfractionated, mononuclear and PMN leukocytes. Using the fluorescent probe 1.4-(trimethylamino)-phenyl-4-phenyl-hexatriene (TMA-DPH), we examined the PMN membrane fluidity and, using the Fura 2-AM, the PMN cytosolic Ca2+ content. From the results obtained, it is evident that only the initial relative flow rate of unfractionated leukocytes was significantly reduced in subjects with CRF, while the filt…

Leukocyte Rheology Before and After Chemotactic Activation in some Venous Diseases

1999

Abstract Objective: to evaluate leukocyte rheology, polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) membrane fluidity and cytosolic Ca2+ concentration in subjects with post-phlebitic leg syndrome (PPS) and acute deep-venous leg thrombosis (DVT). Subjects: twenty-two subjects with leg PPS and 14 subjects with leg DVT. Methods: we evaluated the leukocyte filtration (unfractionated, mononuclear cells (MN) and PMN), the PMN membrane fluidity and the PMN cytosolic Ca2+ concentration. Subsequently, we evaluated the same PMN variables after in vitro chemotactic activation with 4-phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) and N -formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP). Results: at baseline we observed a signific…

Membrane Stiffness of Animal Cells Challenged by Osmotic Stress

2006

Phase coexistence in a triolein-phosphatidylcholine system. Implications for lysosomal membrane properties.

2010

The effects of tri- and monoglycerides on phospholipid (POPC) membranes were studied using spectroscopical methods. Triolein was found to form two types of POPC-rich membranes, both with POPC or as a three-component system with monopalmitin. These two membrane types were determined as co-existing phases based on their spontaneous and stable separation and named heavy and light phase according to their sedimentation behaviour. Marked differences were seen in the physical properties of these phases, even though only minor compositional variation was detected. The light, less polar phase was found to be less ordered and more fluid and seemed to allow significantly lower amount of water penetra…

The superlattice model of lateral organization of membranes and its implications on membrane lipid homeostasis.

2008

AbstractMost biological membranes are extremely complex structures consisting of hundreds of different lipid and protein molecules. According to the famous fluid-mosaic model lipids and many proteins are free to diffuse very rapidly in the plane of the membrane. While such fast diffusion implies that different membrane lipids would be laterally randomly distributed, accumulating evidence indicates that in model and natural membranes the lipid components tend to adopt regular (superlattice-like) distributions. The superlattice model, put forward based on such evidence, is intriguing because it predicts that 1) there is a limited number of allowed compositions representing local minima in mem…

Fluidizing the Membrane by a Local Anesthetic: Phenylethanol Affects Membrane Protein Oligomerization

2010

The exact mechanism of action of anesthetics is still an open question. While some observations suggest specific anesthetic-protein interactions, nonspecific perturbation of the lipid bilayer has also been suggested. Perturbations of bilayer properties could subsequently affect the structure and function of membrane proteins. Addition of the local anesthetic phenylethanol (PEtOH) to model membranes and intact Escherichia coli cells not only affected membrane fluidity but also severely altered the defined helix-helix interaction within the membrane. This experimental observation suggests that certain anesthetics modulate membrane physical properties and thereby indirectly affect transmembran…

Relationship between ethanol tolerance, lipid composition and plasma membrane fluidity inSaccharomyces cerevisiaeandKloeckera apiculata

1994

The lipid composition of a strain of each of two yeasts, Saccharomyces csrevisiae and Kloeckera apiculata, with different ethanol tolerances, was determined for cells grown with or without added ethanol. An increase in the proportion of ergosterol, unsaturated fatty acid levels and the maintenance of phospholipid biosynthesis seemed to be responsible for ethanol tolerance. The association of ethanol tolerance of yeast cells with plasma membrane fluidity, measured by fluorescence anisotropy, is discussed. We propose that an increase in plasma membrane fluidity may be correlated with a decrease in the sterol: phospholipid and sterol: protein ratios and an increase in unsaturation index.

Regulation of Calcium Channel Activity by Lipid Domain Formation in Planar Lipid Bilayers

2003

The sarcoplasmic reticulum channel (ryanodine receptor) from cardiac myocytes was reconstituted into planar lipid bilayers consisting of 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-phosphatidylethanolamine (POPE) and 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-phosphatidylcholine (POPC) in varying ratios. The channel activity parameters, i.e., open probability and average open time and its resolved short and long components, were determined as a function of POPE mole fraction (X(PE)) at 22.4 degrees C. Interestingly, all of these parameters exhibited a narrow and pronounced peak at X(PE) approximately 0.80. Differential scanning calorimetric measurements on POPE/POPC liposomes with increasing X(PE) indicated that the lipid bilayer ente…

Temperature and pressure dependence of quercetin-3-O-palmitate interaction with a model phospholipid membrane: film balance and scanning probe micros…

2004

The molecular interaction of quercetin-3-O-palmitate (QP) with dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) has been studied. Film balance measurements of the average molecular area vs QP molar fraction in DMPC/QP mixed monolayers showed that relevant positive deviations from ideality, i.e., a less dense monolayer packing, occurred for a temperature of 10 degrees C, below the critical melting transition temperature of DMPC monolayers T c m approximately equal 20 degrees C), while ideal behavior was observed at 37 degrees C, above this phase transition temperature. The positive deviation observed at low temperatures in the average molecular area increased with the surface pressure. Scanning probe m…